Table Hopping column: Comparing chicken Parms

Prices range from $13 at Sciortino’s to $27 at Angelo’s 677 Prime. TJ’s Cafe in Colonie gets $14.99 for its Parm, while the dish is $17 at Carmine’s. All come with pasta and bread; Sciortino’s and TJ’s also include soup or salad.

The details … illuminate why prices have such variability, even though all of the restaurants’ respective food costs are within 7 percentage points of the 33 percent target. While 677 Prime’s Parm costs more than twice as much as Sciortino’s, its chicken portion is twice as large; the chicken is organic; the mozzarella Prime uses costs 77 percent more per pound, and it adds freshly grated Pecorino that is 30 percent more expensive than Sciortino’s pregrated Parmesan cheese. As a result, the most and least expensive dishes have food costs within 2 percentage points of each other.

$10.99 at Ruggerio’s, Carman Road between Guilderland and Schenectady. Includes homemade sauce, pasta, salad and decent bread. It’s chicken parm for cryin’ out loud. Why pay $27 when you can get it at any number of family Italian places for half that or less?

I like that this review ties costs such as rent and general overhead into the price of a dish. I’ve had fantastic chicken parm that cost over $20 a plate with nothing else included at fancy restaurants with fancy, formal atmospheres and high-paid staff. I’ve also had the-best-ever 100% home-made chicken parm at a dingy diner in Schenectady which came with homemade soup or salad and a small dessert for $8.99, which was even better then the one from the fancy place, but with a poor atmosphere and the owners sucking up most of the labor costs in a low-rent building. And I’ve suffered through way too many, overly processed and overly priced chicken parm dishes at casual and fast food chains. I say go with the mom and pop places for Tis comfort dish, high end or low end depending on your tmospheric needs, and entirely skip the chains!!!

Quality costs more, isn’t that the whole point of the story? Sure, of course there are any number of places where you can get a $10 chicken parm, but do you think it’s organic chicken, extra virgin olive oil, quality cheese? You get what you pay for, that’s the point. The higher priced dishes aren’t just an expensive premium tacked on for atmosphere – they are worth it to some of us. If they’re not worth it to you, enjoy your Tyson frozen chicken, canned sauced Sysco chicken parm for $10. I might also recommend some burgers and lasagna in England for you.

I agree with Elmer. It would be interesting to see the results of a blind tasting between the four chicken parms. Having had TJ’s on several occasions, I can tell you it is hard to beat the quality and value of their dish.

Steve, good column. Also, you mentioned that sauce is important to people. Couldn’t agree more. Taste is subjective of course but I’d like to see what people think about marinara sauce from local restaurants. Maybe a column someday similar to what you did on the Chicken Parm…

Unless you have had the chicken at 677 Prime you shouldn’t harshly comment just due to price. I have had the Prime’s chicken and it is truly amazing. The chicken itself taste better than any chicken I have ever had. I am not a fan of Carmine’s. My son recently had Chicken Parm at Grappa 72 ($17) and it was really great and enough for 2 meals.

If you enjoy takeout, Paolo Lombardi’s in Wynantskill has their dash and dine meals. Every other week they have chicken parm, comes with penne, salad, dressing, bread and butter. its $14.99 for 2, $19.99 for 4 and $29.99 for 6. You can’t beat it. And it’s delish!

I want to put in a good word for Lombardo’s in downtown Albany. It’s an oldie but a goodie. My husband and I went there a few months back after they ran a Groupon-type coupon sale and were reminded again of how good they are. Great sauce and friendly staff. A nice bit of old Albany.

Chicken parm is not a real extravagant recipe. It’s breaded chicken breast that is sauteed, then baked with sauce and cheese. There is no way anyone should have to pay $27 for it. The best Italian restaurant in the area, LoPorto’s in Troy, charges a reasonable $19.95.

Parmigiana means in the style of Parma, a province in Emilia-Romagna, not the cheese. Chicken Parmigiana however is an American invention, though it is delicious (usually). To make it even more confusing, melanzane alla Parmigiana (eggplant parm) is real Italian dish but comes from Sicily..its called Parmigiana to say that its eggplant in the style of Parma.

I am a boring regular chicken parm orderer and have been recommending TJs for years.
Was actually surprised to see the stats on the portion size. I’ve always found the TJs portion to be huge and would have guessed they were the biggest.

There’s enough bad Chicken Parm out there that I rarely order it. But now that I know of a few good places mentioned by Steve and others, I might try it again at one of these places. But I’m not ready to dish out $27 for Chicken Parm…

I must confess, I don’t ordinarily read the TU. However my wife gets if on Sundays for the tv guide…… anyway she read the critique yesterday about the chicken parm and I read it as well. Not a fan of eating out due to my suspicions about the bulk of it comes off the tailgate of a corporate systems (read sysco, et al) truck. I Yahoo’d Coleman’s chicken and I must say I’m impressed that one of the reataurtants used this product. If I were a chicken parm fan, I would certainly patronized this establishment being a huge farm to table consumer. Now if that same restaurant sources their beef and por from like farms someone please let me know. Just sayin’

SYSCO is not Wal mart. They bring a lot of family owned farms and sustainable product to thousands of restaurants around the country on a consistent basis. Please see the this link for a list of small poultry suppliers from around the country.

That picture of TJs chicken parm looks so good I was tempted to drive right out and get some. I will soon. I was also surprised to see pork and beef in the sauces of several restaurants. I would not expect or appreciate that as I don’t eat red meat and don’t expect it to be in “marinara” sauce.

I would not consider dining in a restaurant that serves its pasta naked with a ladle of sauce on top. Pasta doesn’t require a great deal of sauce for good flavor, but it must be added to freshly-drained spaghetti or macaroni immediately so that it is absorbed into the pasta. Otherwise the pasta will be tasteless, and the flavors of the pasta and the sauce will never blend. The place doesn’t have to be expensive or formal to do this. It works in my kitchen, which will never qualify as “haute cuisine”.

Kudos to Steve Barnes for coming up with the idea of asking 4 well known restaurants for the breakdown of a popular dish. Can always rely on Table Hopping reviews to be honest & well written, professional, unlike some of many blogs around recently such as “SaratogaFoodFanatic”, one of a hundred blogs written by inexperienced & untrained girls in their early 20’s that know nothing at all about restaurants or the good industry.
I’ll stick to Table Hopping to get my food reviews. BTW, has anyone suffered the chicken parm served at Olive Garden in Clifton Park? OML. That takes the prize for the worst I have ever tasted, bar none. Not to mention overpriced.

So, as it turns out DeFazio’s IS open on Monday. Their chicken parm was fantastic. Brought the leftovers in for lunch and at least 5 people stopped to ask me where I it was from because it looked and smelled so good. First time I’ve had it but it won’t be the last!!

WOW!!! Thanks to all of you who posted about Tj’s Cafe! I am flattered and humbled by the accolades. For those of you who have never heard of us or tried our food, we aren’t going anywhere anytime soon…So stop by when you can, you won’t be disappointed.
Remember as well, 677 Prime, Carmine’s, and Sciortino’s also put out some FABULOUS products, and they deserve as much if not more recognition for the awesome job they do, as well as the staff at ALL of our restaurants. Often the staff is working so hard to make your meal perfect and is underappreciated. KUDOS to the working Staff!!! They deserve a shout out as well.
Thank you all very much, And certainly a thanks to Steve for a great article that really lays it out for the general public!
Sincerely,
Todd j Leach
and our Staff at
TJ’s Cafe

For value, gotta go with Ferrari’s in Schenectady, where the chicken parm special on Monday and Tuesday is only $12.99 and is easily a pound of chicken. Even the rest-of-week price (maybe $4 more) is worth every penny because it’s huge, comes with salad and pasta and is delizziosissima besides.

while not bad but certainly not gourmet, the parm night special (Wednesdays I believe) at Pizza Gram in Guilderland will allow you, for relatively small bucks, to receive chicken parm as big as your head, ie–enough for 2 more meals at home.

Anyone looking to try TJ’s Chicken Parm? I believe tonights Wednesday takeout $22.95 family feast for four is the Chicken Parm dinner,includes pasta,salad and bread. It has to be ordered by 3pm. Give them a call and give it a try. YUM!